ASLCC President invites student feedback

I have been asked a few times if Student Government plans to take a stance on the issue of the Classified staff strike. I went to the union rally and spoke to the Board of Education about some of the drawbacks of this situation. Though the union maintains that this is not a budget issue and that tuition should not be affected, the Board of Education says otherwise. According to the board, the only way they can meet the demands of the union is to raise tuition by another $8-$11. This is just after the $3 tuition increase that has already taken place. Whenever I get on the speakers list and speak with the general public at the Board meetings it is as a student and not the student body president. This is because I can not make statements for the group, but as a student I do that no matter who’s to blame for the current situation a further tuition increase is offending and a slap in the face of students trying to get an education. We are not included in the union negotiations so we can’t see the full scope of the situation. All we can do is listen to both sides give their arguments. As your student government we would like to know how you feel about this issue and if you want us to take an active stance. But until that happens we can only act as individual students ourselves and like I said in the board meeting as a student this is not my fight and I will not get in it. But there is a huge issue in even thinking about raising tuition again. Positions can be replaced, departments outsourced, staff hired…but it ain’t a school if we can can’t afford to be students.

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